2014 House Key Votes

113th Congress

How Scoring Works

FreeedomWorks identifies the most important votes on issues of economic freedom and scores Members of Congress based on their votes. We use a scale of 100, so the higher the score the more often the Member is on our side fighting for lower taxes, less government and more freedom.

Special Votes

Possible vote augmentations include:

Vote is weighted as double the score of a typical vote when figuring a legislator's overall score.

Vote is weighted as triple the score of a typical vote when figuring a legislator's overall score.

Vote is disregarded when figuring a legislator's overall score.

Legislators not Scored

The following legislators were not scored for this year because FreedomWorks has determined that they missed too many votes to receive a fair and accurate score.

Alma Adams

Rep. Adams has not been scored for 2014 because she was elected in a special election in November.

Rodney M. Alexander

Rep. Alexander has not been scored for 2014 because he resigned in June.

Robert E. Andrews

Rep. Andrews has not been scored for 2014 because he resigned in February.

John A. Boehner

Speaker Boehner has not been scored for 2014 because the Speaker of the House rarely votes on legislation.

Dave Brat

Rep. Brat has not been scored for 2014 because he was elected in a special election in November.

Curtis Clawson

Rep. Clawson has not been scored for 2014 because he was elected in a special election in June.

Jo Ann H. Emerson

Rep. Emerson has not been scored for 2014 because she resigned from Congress in February.

David W. Jolly

Rep. Jolly has not been scored for 2014 because he was elected in a special election in March.

Carolyn McCarthy

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy has not been scored for 2014 because she missed the majority of the year's votes due to health concerns.

Alan Nunnelee

Rep. Nunnelee has not been scored for 2014 because he missed half of the year's votes due to health concerns.

Trey Radel

Rep. Radel has not been scored for 2014 because he resigned in January.

Key Vote Descriptions

This bill funded the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year (through September, 2014). It spends $45 billion more than the budget caps established in 2011, and perpetuates a vast amount of wasteful spending from previous years. Lawmakers were also given almost no time to read this 1,500 page spending bill.

This final version of the Farm Bill, reconciled between the House and Senate, actually undoes some of the already modest reforms to crop insurance and food stamps that were previously in the bill. This five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill will spend nearly a trillion dollars over ten years, and remains loaded with corporate welfare and special carve-outs for well-connected agricultural corporations.

"Nay" votes scored.

Key Vote 3: On Passage: S. 540 - Temporary Debt Limit Extension Act

This bill suspends the debt limit until March 15th of 2015, allowing the president to potentially run up as much debt as he pleases during that time period. The debt is already projected to increase by about $1 trillion over that period, to over $18 trillion. Meanwhile, this debt ceiling suspension contains no reforms to curb spending whatsoever.

This bill would effectively undo the damaging Supreme Court decision in the case of Kelo v. New London, which held that the government can redistribute property from one individual to another if it serves a community's "economic development. The bill stops federal, state, and local governments from exercising eminent domain to seize private property for the purpose of "economic development" or any other transfer from a private owner to another private entity. It also provides legal rights for property owners to sue the government for abuse of eminent domain.

This bill would stop the IRS for one year from finalizing a proposed regulation that would stop grassroots non-profit groups from engaging in political free speech. On the heels of the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the regulation that this bill would delay would seemingly finish their job by excluding tea parties and other grassroots groups from any role in the political process.

This bill would delay a major reform to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that would have returned some semblance of market rates to flood insurance premiums. Currently, NFIP is over $25 billion in debt because homeowners in frequently flooded areas do not have to pay an amount that is equal to the risk they incur, meaning that the government takes a loss when the inevitable floods occur. By delaying the scheduled reforms, the NFIP will require a taxpayer bailout for billions of dollars.

Delaying Obamacare's unconstitutional individual insurance mandate extends the same exception to the law that was extended to businesses with the delay of the employer mandate. This delay would also prevent Obamacare from taking full effect, and provides an extended window to work on defunding, delaying, or dismantling the entire law.

This bill would stop the EPA from imposing proposed regulations that would effectively ban new coal-fired power plants from ever being constructed. It would require the EPA to take into account current achievable technologies from existing plants when setting future emission reductions, stopping them from promulgating impossible regulations that would kill the coal industry.

"Yea" votes scored.

Key Vote 9: On Passage: H.R. 1871 - Baseline Reform Act

This bill would require that all government budget calculations be made based upon the spending levels for the current fiscal year. Currently, budget projections assume an automatic increase in federal spending based upon the rate of inflation, meaning that even stopping the growth of federal spending would be scored as a cut. Baseline budgeting would force Congress to account for this "automatic" growth of government spending honestly.

"Yea" votes scored.

Key Vote 10: On the Amendment: H.Amdt 671 to H.R. 4435 - Preventing NDAA funds from being used to implement climate change initiatives

This amendment specifically prevents Defense funding from being used to implement any climate change recommendations that are based upon controversial international and U.S. scientific assessments, including the IPCC's 5th Assessment Report, the U.S. Global Change Research Program National Climate Assessment, or the United Nations Agenda 21 sustainable development plan.

"Yea" votes scored.

Key Vote 11: On the Amendment: H.Amdt. 696 to H.R. 4660 - To eliminate the Economic Development Administration

Key Vote 12: On the Amendment: H.Amdt. 742 to H.R. 4660 - To reduce funding for CJS Appropriations by 1%

This amendment by Rep. Marsha Blackburn would reduce the spending levels in the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill by 1% across the board, with the exception of funding for the FBI.

"Yea" votes scored.

Key Vote 13: On the Amendment: H.Amdt. 815 to H.R. 4745 - To prohibit federal funds for the purchase of license plate cameras

This amendment by Rep. John Fleming would prevent federal funding for state and local license plate scanning programs. Mass scanning of license plates has the potential to be as invasive of individuals' privacy as the NSA's phone data collection, and should not be subsidized federally.

This amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie requires the NSA and other intelligence agencies to obtain specific warrants in order to access communications metadata collected on American citizens. It also stops intelligence agencies from using "backdoor" security vulnerabilities to access companies' data.

"Yea" votes scored.

Key Vote 16: On the Amendment: H.Amdt. 992 to H.R. 4923 - To reduce or eliminate funding for three Department of Energy programs

This amendment by Rep. Tom McClintock would eliminate all funding for the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program and the Fossil Energy Research and Development Program, and reduce funding for the Nuclear Energy Programs, saving taxpayers $3.1 billion dollars.

"Yea" votes scored.

Key Vote 17: On the Amendment: H.Amdt. 1049 to H.R. 4923 - To reduce non defense spending in the bill to 2008 levels

This amendment by Rep. Richard Hudson would reduce spending in the Energy & Water Appropriations bill by 7.4831%, which would return spending in the bill to 2008 levels. Defense and nuclear security programs would be exempted from the cut.

This bill bails out the nearly depleted Highway Trust Fund through May of 2015, using revenue gimmicks to supposedly offset most of the cost. The Highway Trust fund desperately needs reform instead of merely continuing to receive periodic taxpayer bailouts.

This bill would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from finalizing a new rule that would allow them to regulate practically any water under the Clean Water Act. The CWA was intended to regulate "navigable waterways", but the EPA wants to be able to regulate everything from irrigation ditches to ponds to dry creek beds - which would massively infringe upon property owners' rights to develop their own land.

"Yea" votes scored.

Key Vote 20: On Passage: H.R. 24 - Federal Reserve Transparency Act

This bill would require a full and comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve. The central bank of the United States has operated in secrecy for over a century, and should be fully open to Congressional and public scrutiny.

This trillion-plus dollar spending bill was crafted behind closed doors and was packed with dozens of policy riders that Congress never had a chance to vote on individually. It continues to fund the federal government fully, with zero reforms to the government's out-of-control spending.